Free resources

February 28, 2012

Ella Jenkins thinks that people should sing in every season, and this recording can help us all do just that. Here is a lively sing-along, recorded at a summer program in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969. Enthusiastic children join world-famous performer Ella Jenkins on twelve wonderful songs in a variety of styles, from traditional spirituals to Caribbean, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll. The recording features Ella Jenkin’s baritone ukulele, drums, harmonica, guitar, and rhythm sticks. Especially suited for children 3-9 years old, their parents, teachers, and playmates.

February 21, 2012

Sergey Vasil'yevich Rachmaninov (1873-1943) was a Russian composer and pianist. As in many of his compositions, in the Cello Sonata, the piano accompaniment echoes the melodic line and plays as significant part as the cello.

February 14, 2012

"Gypsy Davy" by Margaret MacArthurfrom the album "Folksongs of Vermont" (FW05314)

Born in 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, Margaret MacArthur spent her childhood moving around the western United States. Her first contact with folk music came in 1933, when her father began work at an Arizona timber company with displaced cowboys and folk singers who had collected songs throughout their travels. In 1948 MacArthur moved to Vermont, where she gathered the songs presented here from churches, friends, and broadsides found near her farm. When speaking of her death, Margaret MacArthur’s granddaughter Robin wrote, "On her deathbed she was sick with morphine, most of her memory gone, but she could still remember the lyrics to any ballad we asked her to sing. This music had etched itself into her soul; song and landscape and self had twined into a fabric that was lasting, resounding, and full of grace."

January 31, 2012

"Tarona 1" by Academy of Maqamfrom the album "Music of Central Asia Vol. 2: Invisible Face of the Beloved: Classical Music of the Tajiks and Uzbeks" (SFW40521)

Amid the mosques and minarets of Samarkand and Bukhara, generations of vocalists set the mystical, Sufi-inspired verse of Hafiz and other classical poets to lyrical melodies, creating a spiritual art music of great refinement and sublime beauty called Shashmaqâm, confirming its important place among the great art music traditions of Eurasia.

January 05, 2012

"Como mi suegra (Like My Mother-in-Law) - milonga" by Los Gauchos de Roldán from the album "Button Accordion and Bandoneón Music from Northern Uruguay" (SFW40561)

Accordions and guitars have enlivened the social life of cattle-herding gaucho families of northern Uruguay since the mid 1800s. On Los Gauchos de Roldán, regional musical icon Walter Roldán pumps out time-honored polcas and chotis, Brazilian-tinged maxixas, and more on his button accordion as Chichí Vidiella adds the lush color of the bandoneón.

Bernardo Sanguinetti's guitar and Richardo Cunha's percussive, deep-pitched guitarrón immerse the melodies in a rich nest of rhythms and harmonies, which formerly-exiled singer-songwriter Numa Moraes treats us to five gems of his repertoire. 19 tracks, 55 minutes of music, 40-page bilingual booklet.

December 19, 2011

"Sao Chegados Os Trez Reis (The Three Kings Have Arrived)" by Various Artists from the album "Christmas Songs of Portugal"(FW0684)

When this album was recorded in the 1950s, Estrella Church in Lisbon celebrated Christmas with a choir, a bagpiper and an elephant. Hear some of the sacred favorites of the season, generally sung unaccompanied. (On this recording, elephant not included.)

December 07, 2011

Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) was a Czech composer and is considered one of the greatest Czech composers of the nineteenth-century. The Serenade for Strings displays a different mood in each of the movements: a cantabile style in the first, a melancholy waltz in the second, humorous high spirits in the third, lyrical beauty in the fourth, and exuberance in the fifth.

This recording is performed by the Ensemble Instrumental de Grenoble, Marc Tardue, conducting.

November 22, 2011

"Golden Kids Rules" by Chip Taylor from the album "Chip Taylor & The Grandkids" (SFW45071)

When renowned musician and songwriter Chip Taylor (“Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning”) became a grandfather, he directed his creative energy to writing new songs with and for his grandkids. Golden Kids Rules melds the husky, time-worn vocals and the musical instincts of a seasoned performer with the charming artistry of his three young grandchildren. The album overflows with love of family and the musical bonds that hold them together. Taylor’s brother, actor Jon Voight, offers an insightful introduction to the artist and the album. 13 tracks, 38 minutes, 36-page booklet with lyrics.

November 15, 2011

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is a German composer and pianist whose music influenced many twentieth-century composers. This song cycle is a setting of poems by August von Platen and Georg Friedrich Daumer. Brahms chose poems that would be improved by adding music to them, which means that he did not always choose the best poetry to set. With these songs, Brahams employed an operatic style that signaled a shift into his mature compositions.

This recording is performed by Maciej Pikulski, piano, and Jose Van Dam, baritone.